2013 Films

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Sunday, 26 January 2014

Prisoners

Incendies was one of the best films of
2010, it was hard-hitting, brutally emotional and contained a twist that was
like something from – I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you. Denis Villeneuve’s first English language film is set in a small town in
Pennsylvania in which two young girls are kidnapped. The police investigation,
led by Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), leads to the arrest of a
mentally handicapped Alex Jones (Paul Dano), but when there is not enough
evidence to charge him of the crime, he is released. This enrages Keller Dover
(Hugh Jackman), one of the fathers of the missing girls, who then proceeds to
kidnap Alex and torture him in an attempt to extract information about the
whereabouts of the two missing girls.

Unlike the majority of Hollywood films Prisoners does ask some demanding
questions of its audience, hardly surprising coming from the director of Incendies. The main question is how far
would you go to rescue or find a loved one? Prisoners
examines the number of ways one could take the disappearance of a child. An
underused Maria Bello is emotionally devastated, and unable to leave the house,
the Birch family are distraught and determined to find their missing daughter
but are unwilling go the lengths that Keller Dover is willing to go. Keller
Dover’s actions become the central point of the film as Prisoners becomes a murky minefield of morals that questions the
effectiveness and morality of torture. Much like the torture scenes in Dark ZeroThirty (which, in my opinion, condemned the use of the torture)
they are brutal and very hard to watch. The mere idea of self justice and use
of torture to extract information is questioned. The viewer is plagued by a
number of questions whilst Keller is brutally beating Alex. What if Alex is
innocent? Does Alex fully understand what is happening? Is Keller any better
than the man he is beating?

Prisoners is certainly a film that
demands more of the viewer than the average by the numbers thriller that
Hollywood regularly churns out. The moral and emotional complexities that arise
within the families of a kidnapped child are well discussed. The turmoil caused
by the kidnapping of the two children is equally as interesting as the police
procedural into the disappearance of the two young girls. Keller Dover’s
transformation from seemingly loving family man, to violent torturer is a truly
fascinating one and it gives Hugh Jackman an emotional role that allows him to
dive deep into his character thus presenting Jackman the opportunity to give
one of the best performances of his career. Supporting performances are also impressive Jake Gyllenhaal is superb as detective Loki, torn apart
by his own inner demons, and Paul Dano successfully elicits a degree of sympathy
for Alex.

Prisoner’s dark, twisted plot is
matched by Roger Deakins’ superb cinematography. Shot in a similar fashion to
the works of David Fincher, such as Zodiac
and Se7en, the relentless rain and
dark surroundings add to the films’ sinister nature. Like every other genre the
police procedural genre has its own troupes and clichés of which Prisoners adheres too with its numerous
red herrings, last minute revelations and a dramatic, unexpected and
questionable twist. However, the build up to the final act is superb. Teaming
up with the dark, shadowy, noiresque cinematography the story builds up the
tension and sense of dread expertly.